As this blog progresses, you will realise my absolute and total love with cooking and eating food. However, despite that, you will also learn that I am also a huge fan of one-pan dinners. Straightforward, no-nonsense, delicious dinners with minimal washing up for your washer-upper or, in my case my dishwasher, my favourite kitchen gadget by a long way.

On the matter of favourite kitchen gadgets, I am addicted to KitchenAid®. Anything and everything KitchenAid®. A few weeks ago, we had friends for a Mexican-themed dinner. And in true High Heels style, when the guacamole ran out of I dashed to the kitchen, and my beloved KitchenAid® Artisan Food Processor to ‘whip up a bit more’! Well, that was a mistake. During this whipping up disaster struck and the (beloved) food processor broke down (thankfully I did just manage to finish the guacamole)! Mr High Heels came to the rescue but was unable to fix it. After 5 years of much use, the stem and the small blade had been irreparably damaged. RIP beloved food processor!

Never one to begrudge me a kitchen gadget, because I use them A LOT, and horrified by the cost of replacement parts, Mr High Heels sourced a new food processor (new and unused from eBay for £50, cheaper than the parts!!) which I am delighted to report arrived today!

With the calm now restored in my kitchen (and my household), I got straight onto using it this evening. Back to my one pan dinner….

Place the butternut squash, parsnips, and carrots onto the baking tray, cover with the olive oil, season with salt and pepper and put in the oven for 20 minutes.

Next, add the remaining vegetables to the tray. Season and put in the oven for a further 15 minutes.

Finally, place the lamb cutlets on the top of the vegetables, season, and return to the oven for a further 25 minutes. Sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese and serve with a healthy dollop of Parsley, Walnut and Alioli Pesto.

For the Parsley, Walnut, and Alioli Pesto:

A large handful of fresh parsley

25g whole walnuts

1 garlic clove

1 egg (at room temperature)

200ml sunflower oil

1 tsp white wine vinegar

A pinch of salt

Instructions:

Place the walnuts, parsley, and garlic in a food processor. Blitz until finely chopped.

Add the egg, the white wine vinegar and the salt and blitz until the mixture is well-combined (about 1 minute).

Using the food processor’s funnel and with it still running, slowly add the sunflower oil a drizzle at a time. It’s important to have some patience whilst doing this (not one of my virtue’s either, but on this occasion, it’s definitely worth the wait!) if you pour all of the oil in at once, it’ll curdle. Take time, breathe, think of high heels and handbags or anything else that takes your fancy!)

Once the oil is all combined, you should be left with a lovely fluffy mayonnaise-consistency sauce.

Serve on top of your lamb cutlets and roasted vegetables, use the next day in sandwiches, with crudités, salad or frankly anything else. It’s a versatile sauce and will keep in a sealed container (I like to use a storage jar such as Kilner®) for up to a week.